Cotton-picking machine.



PATENTED JUNE 23, 1908.

R. c. SGHEYRLI'NG. COTTON PIGKING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION 'FILED P11121., 1967.

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'UNITED srnins rArENT onnron f JAMES E. BULLOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COTTON-'PICKING IMACI-IINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 23, 1908.

Application filed February 21, 1907. Serial No. 358,547.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, RUDOLPH C. SCHER- LING, citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a certain new and' My invention relates tocotton picking machines, and relates particularly to the picker columnsentering into the construction of such machines.

It is well known that picker columns com-2 prise each a support for thefingers bearings, an operating shaft carried in said support, gearwheels provided Iupon said shaft, andi lpicker fingers carried by thebearings and `projecting inwardly at ltheir bases into prox-l imity withthe gear wheels and carrying gear; wheels meshing with the vaforesaidgear` wheels.

The portions-of the supportcarry-' ing the bearings and the operatingshaft, have E lhitherto been made integral, rendering it ex# tremelydifficult to replace fingers which fre quently break, the breakage veryoften oc curring close to the bearings.

It is one object of my invention to provide y a construction whereby theportions yor bases i of the fingers within the bearings may readily beremoved from the bearings, to which; end I vmake the portion of thesupport that; carriesfthe operating shaft distinct from that portionvofthe support which carries the bearings, and separably unite these twosupportf portions, whereby when a finger is to be re-` moved andreplaced the support portions;

pose.

may be separated and reunited for the pur-k y quantity to the Vbearingscarrying the picker In the preferred embodiment of my inven'l tion, thetwo support portions are made ofr cast iron, the shaft supportingportion hav-i ing a semi-cylindrical wall portion substane, tiallyconcentric with said shaft and two par- Q allel wall portions formingcontinuations of; the semi-cylindrical wall portion, while the:companion 'support section is in the form of a plate secured to marginalenlargements of the aforesaid parallel wall portions by means of screwspassing through said plate into said j marginal enlargements.

The' bosses are integrally formed with this plate and proj ectat rightangles to the operating shaft and 'the planeof the plate, said shaftandplate being parallel, strengthening webs intervening between the bossesand also lcast integrally therewith. The bosses Vare 'provided withbores whose axes extend at right .angles to vthe shaft.

It is another object of my invention to provide improved bearings forthe picking fingers whereby frictional wear upon the bosses 4projectingfrom the picker supp ortis avoided, to which end the bores in the bossesare enlarged to receive liners, )referably of antifriction metal, thataifor the direct bearing .supports for the fingers. There are desirfably two such liners or bearing sleeves for each boss, one at each endofthe corresponding boss.

Each outer bearing lsleeve has its inner end terminating in an outwardlyextending flange, the bore of the boss being of one diameter to receivethe major lportion of the bearing sleeve and of a larger diameter to-RUDOLPH C. SCHERLING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY E.BULLOCK AND i permit the sleeve with its flanged *head to be forcedthrough the -bore from the baseof the boss toward the tip until saidflanged head encounters the shoulder formed vbetween the `differentportions of the bore. Another bearing sleeve of a diameter equal to thelarger portion of the Ibore is forced into the bore at the base portionof the boss, this latter sleeve also ldesirably having a flanged lheadreceived in an annular enlargement of the bore, the gear wheel upon theinner end of the cotton picking finger desirably closely engaging orapproaching the said latter flange to hold :the latter sleeve inposition in the event of its looseness. I also desirably form the pickercolumn so that it will retain lubricating oil or 4other li uid withinits interior, whereby saidoil may e supplied in sufficient columns.

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accompanyingdrawing,illustrating the vpreferred embodiment ofthe invention, inwhich- Figure 1 is an elevation of so much of ya picker column as isessential to an understanding of my invention, a portion of themechanism being vbroken away to reveal clearly certain vdetails-ofconstruction. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2 of Fig. 1.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference in bothfigures. Y

The column support is formed in vtwo sections a t, the sectiona 4beingprovided with iso vilo

bearings c c for the operating shaft (Z to which motion is imparted inany suitable and well known way. The portion a of the support isdesirably made semi-cylindrical at the rear portion and is made with twoparallel continuations of said semi-cylindrical portion, which parallelcontinuations terminate in marginal enlargements e e. The operatingshaft d is provided with bevel gear wheels j, there being one wheel j'to operate each cotton picking finger. The support section ZJ is in theform of a late that is fastened in position by means ofpscrews g passingthrough the plate into said marginal enlargements. This plate isprovided with as many bosses ZL as there are cotton picking fingers i,each boss Zt being elevated or displaced a sufficient distance from theassociate wheelf to permit of suitable gearing connection, as willappear. The bosses Z1, are desirably formed in an integral casting withthe plate Z1 and have webs 7c intervening between the same forstrengthening purposes, said webs ZC being also desirably formed in thesame casting. The picking fingers project through the bores in thebosses and each finger carries a wheel Z on its inner end that mesheswith the wheel j, it being understood that the wheels Z are fixed to thefingers 'i and that the wheelsj are fixed to the shaft d. The wheels arewithin the gear casing formed by the elements a Z). Each boss preferablyhas its bore formed of differing diameters, the smallest diameter beingat the tip of the boss, the largest diameter being at the base of theboss, while the third diameter is intermediate between these two.

A sleeve m, composed preferably of Babbitt metal, is provided with aflange n, said sleeve being inserted from the base of the boss, saidflange limiting the extent to which it may be moved. Another sleeve 0,also preferably composed of Babbitt metal, is provided with a flange p,this sleeve being inserted into the bore of the boss from the base ofthe boss, the flange p limiting the extent to which said sleeve may beinserted within the bore. The fit of the sleeves m o is preferably snugor tight, and the flanges n and p further serve to hold said sleeves inposition, while the gear Z serves further to prevent the displacement ofthe sleeve o as said gear Z butts closely against the flange p. p

By the Iprovision of the sleeves m o, direct frictional wear of thepicking fingers upon the bosses is avoided, and whenever the sleeves m 0are sufficiently worn, they may readily be replaced. By this arrangementthe bosses ZL are not worn out, so that the life of the picker. columnis not likelyyto become shortened by reason of undue wear upon thebosses.

The two parts a Z) of the support are desirably so formed and said partsare so constructed that lubricating oil may be contained in the casingformed thereby, whereby the gear wheels within said casing arethoroughly immersed in the lubricating oil and the bearings for thepicker fingers are supplied with the oil, which lubricating oildesirably finds access to the annular spaces between the liners o and mas well as between said liners 0 and m and the bases of the pickingfingers. v

I believe that I am the first to provide hollow traveling columns forpicker fingers in cotton picking machines that are adapted to containlubricating oil or other liquid.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters- Patent:

l. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers.

.2. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, the section bearing the pickmg ngers being provided with bosseshaving bores that afford the bearings for the fingers.

3. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, said sections having screws for effecting their separableunion.

4. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, the section bearing the picking fingers being rovided withbosses having bores that a 'ord the bearings for the fingers, saidsections having screws for effecting their separable union.

5. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, the gearing that establishes the connection between the pickingfingers and the said shaft comprisinfr bevel gear wheels upon the shaftand beve gear Wheels upon the fingers.

6. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other sec'- tion bearing the pickingfingers, the gearing that establishes the connection between the picking'fingers and the said shaft comprising bevel gear wheels upon the shaftand bevel gear wheels upon the fingers, the section bearing the pickingfingers being rovided with bosses having bores that a 'ord the bearingsfor the fingers.

7. In a cotton picking machine, the cornbination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking fingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, said sections having screws. for effecting their separableunion, the gearing that establishes the connection between the pickingfingers and the said shaft comprising bevel gear wheels upon the shaftand bevel gear wheels upon the fingers.

8. In a cotton picking machine, the combination with a picker operatingshaft, a plurality of picking fingers in gear therewith, and a supportfor said shaft and picking iingers formed in two separable sections, onesection bearing the shaft and the other section bearing the pickingfingers, the section bearing the picking ngers being rovided with bosseshaving bores that a rd the bearings for the fingers, said sectionshaving screws for effecting their separable union, the gearing thatestablishes the connection between the picking fingers and the saidshaft comprising bevel gear wheels upon the shaft and bevel gear wheelsu on the fingers.

In witness whereof, hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day of FebruaryA. D.,

RUDOLPH C. SCHERLING. Witnesses:

LEON G. STRoH, G. L. Ormes.

